The effect of thermal hysteresis on the performance of a regenerative Ericsson refrigeration cycle with MnFe-based composite material

Abstract

MnFe-based magnetocaloric materials exist a giant magnetocaloric effect so that they can be used as the working substance for room-temperature magnetic refrigeration. But there are two key problems to be solved before employing them as the working substance: one is that for single MnFe-based material, its giant magnetocaloric effect only arise in a small temperature range and the other is that these materials exist generally thermal hysteresis. For these reasons, a novel composite material based on MnFe-based materials is designed optimally, and a regenerative Ericsson refrigeration cycle using the composite material as the working substance is established. Furthermore, the performance of the refrigeration cycle with the composite is analyzed and evaluated. The influences of thermal hysteresis on main thermodynamic parameters of the refrigeration cycle are revealed by numerical calculation. The research results can provide some significant guidances for the parametric design and performance improvement of room-temperature magnetic refrigerators.